Single pup / opinions / fretless

[fleabag]

Bretheren,

i'd like some opinions on where you lowlife comrades would place a single pickup on a fretless bass body.  I understand this is as much subjective as anything else to do with basses,

because it's personal, so there is no wrong opinion.  All opinions are valid.

 

It's a coil tappable humbucker, but whether i  tap it, i dont know yet. 

 

Leccies will be passive,  Vol , Tone, 6 position Varitone.  ( well, 5 as  1 is bypass )  If it makes a difference to opinions, it's 34" scale

 

Let me ave 'em 

 

[songofthewind]

I’m thinking the main thing to consider is the actual position of the pick-up. Is it an MM style humbucker? If so, it might be useful to see where this type is positioned in other basses.

[Lfalex v1.1]

(Just supposing, not a concrete answer)

 

Rear coil centred where a jazz bass bridge pickup would be?

 

Gives you that "bridge-soloed" sound if that's switched for single coil operation. Fatter in parallel and barks more in series if those options are available. 

 

If you do have coil- switching,  please use resistors or trim-pots to pull the series & parallel output levels down to match the subject coil output. 

I've had two basses that didn't, and two that did (Stingray 5, Ibanez EDC715) I much preferred those that did.

The volume jumps switching between settings are very annoying otherwise.

[fleabag]

3 hours ago, songofthewind said:

I’m thinking the main thing to consider is the actual position of the pick-up. Is it an MM style humbucker? If so, it might be useful to see where this type is positioned in other basses.

 

That's exactly my question - how far from the bridge.  It's a soapbar though, not MM

[fleabag]

46 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

(Just supposing, not a concrete answer)

 

Rear coil centred where a jazz bass bridge pickup would be?

 

Gives you that "bridge-soloed" sound if that's switched for single coil operation. Fatter in parallel and barks more in series if those options are available. 

 

If you do have coil- switching,  please use resistors or trim-pots to pull the series & parallel output levels down to match the subject coil output. 

I've had two basses that didn't, and two that did (Stingray 5, Ibanez EDC715) I much preferred those that did.

The volume jumps switching between settings are very annoying otherwise.

 

Yes that would be a consideration i hadnt thought of.  I may just leave it in series

[itu]

That resistor thing depends if you need that boost or not. Consider single/series (for boost) or par/ser switching. You really do not need three options. At least one is not usable.

 

My fretless 4 has only vol and a rotary coil switch.

Edited January 14, 2023 by itu

[fleabag]

Just for simplicty,  i'm contemplating just leaving the soapbar in Series

[Mikey D]

Exactly where it is on the ibanez GWB. I've had a number of them (and still regret selling the GWB1). Just the right amount of bridge burbling and nice tight defined sound. 

[fleabag]

What distance was that from the bridge ?

[Mikey D]

4 minutes ago, fleabag said:

What distance was that from the bridge ?

Sorry I don't have exact measurements but it was basically the width of the installed bartolini and just a fraction more as the gap between bridge and pickup. On the geb35 this was a custom dual coil nordstrand with coil tap from beepre

[fleabag]

Awesome - thanks !

[TheGreek]

I had a single pickup on my Veillette Citron fretless - sounded amazing.

 

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

54 minutes ago, itu said:

That resistor thing depends if you need that boost or not. Consider single/series (for boost) or par/ser switching. You really do not need three options. At least one is not usable.

 

My fretless 4 has only vol and a rotary coil switch.

 

(Nice fretless, is that a Delano in there?)

 

In the case of coil switching,  not all implementations are created equal, and much depends on the pickup.

My favourites have always been triple-coil MM variants. The SR5 was useable in series or parallel, but the single coil was too thin- sounding without a lot of EQ.

The Ibanez EDC 71x is really clever.

 

Position 1: hum-cancelling SC with passive tone tweaks to mimic a P-bass.

 

Position 2: hum-cancelling SC 

 

Position 3: both coils in parallel (naturally humbucking)

 

I'd love that pickup (the older ATK one) in a fretless.

 

If you made me choose a single mode, I'd have parallel. That would be true of all of the 4 basses I've owned which had coil switching options.

(Personally) I find Series lacks depth and detail, even if the level boost is initially impressive. 

[chris_b]

I've had several single pickup basses, Framus Star bass, Gibson EB0, MM SR5 and a couple of P basses. 

 

My favourite single pickup sound and location, would be as per the Precision.

[itu]

12 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

(Nice fretless, is that a Delano in there?)

Thank you, sir, yes, it is an Xtender.

 

Oh, about measurements: the pickup edge is 3" from D and A string bridges, AND this fretless is 36" (like Overwater C-bass).

Edited January 14, 2023 by itu

[fleabag]

40 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I had a single pickup on my Veillette Citron fretless - sounded amazing.

 

 

 

 

I remember that bass , awesome thing. I hadnt contemplated mounting the pickup that far forward though

Edited January 14, 2023 by fleabag

[lidl e]

I would put it closer to the bridge in an MM position.

 

I havd my frretless set up that way and it sounds perfect. I am using bartolini and a bart harness.

Edited January 14, 2023 by lidl e

[fleabag]

The positions are almost endless. Anything from an MM position, Precision, and the Greek's  Citron way up away from the bridge, and anything inbetween all of them

 

I originally thought MM position, but having others post their opinions has made me think.  Glad i asked

 

 

[ikay]

The single (switchable) humbucker on my ACG is about 10mm closer to the bridge than a Stingray and sounds mighty. Scale is 34" and the pickup centreline measures 355mm from the 12th fret.

 

[fleabag]

Thanks - that's a useful measurement

[TheLowDown]

I would always place the pickup much nearer the neck than the bridge. The Jaco tone does nothing for me I'm afraid, fretless or not. On all my basses the bridge pickup is always muted.

[Norris]

Where do you naturally pluck the strings? Put it there

[fleabag]

I tend to move about like most people depending on the tone i want, sometimes near the bridge, then further up.

[Ralf1e]

I would go 295mm from the 12th fret which is the neck position of my G&L 2000 Legacy, Westone Spectrum and Thunder 3 but I like neck pickup sound over bridge position anyway so for you it might be pants.

I would coil tap the pickup as if the option is there why not take advantage of it? You paid for it might as well use it.

I like the idea of the rotary tone selection. Kind of like the Aria SB 900.

Speaking of Arias getting hold of the measurement of the single pickup Aria SB1000, 600 etc might help you. They sound awesome.

Can't tell you what they measure as I only have the twin pickup SB900. Someone on here will have some.

Hope that helps.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Ralf1e

[fleabag]

Good points .  I too used to have the SB 900, but cannot recall the distance